Lindbergh Homeowners Face 23 Percent Property Tax Jump

Residents in the Lindbergh School District will have to dig deeper next year as a tax rate proposed by school officials will increase property taxes 23 percent for homeowners in the district.

The Lindbergh school board approved the tax rate during a special meeting last week at the Lindbergh Early Childhood Center.

The tax rate submitted to the state auditor would raise property taxes $265 for the owner of a $150,000 home—from $892 in 2011 to $1,158 in 2012.

The proposed residential tax rate of 4.0619 per $100 of assessed value is a jump from the previous year’s 3.13 tax rate. The 4.0619 tax rate is a combined rate of 3.5769 for school operating funds and 0.485 to fund the repaying of voter approved bonds.

The measure follows voters’ approval of Proposition L last November allowing the district to increase the operating funds tax rate 0.65. Yet, the proposed tax rate would raise the rate 0.8269.

The district is able to go above the voter approved rate through state laws governing the assessed value of property in taxing district at the time of elections.  State election statutes preserve the district’s assessed value at the time of Proposition L’s approval to ensure revenue approved by voters neither declines nor increases drastically through slumping or booming property values.

For Lindbergh, the statute preserved about $1.25 million in tax revenue as the district stood to lose more than $1.35 million in slumping property values with only $106,000 in revenue gained from new construction.

The rate of the district’s debt service increased slightly from 0.38 to .485. The rate of the debt service fund is set by state law and is mandated for paying the long term debt of voter approved bonds, and has increased as a result of property values decreasing.

The tax rate of agricultural and commercial property in the district will increase as well. The commercial rate jumped from 3.3354 in 2011 to 4.3756 in 2012. Likewise, the agricultural rate would jump from 4.5287 to 5.2828.

The tax rate for personal property also increased from the 3.4244 to 4.3946. The jump would translate to $146 in taxes per $10,000 of assessed personal property in 2012.

The district’s blended rate of 4.1739 comprises 92 percent of the district’s $60.8 million budget—the first budget reflecting $8.3 million in tax revenue approved through Proposition L.

School officials said Proposition L was necessary to stem the loss of more than $15 million in lost revenue since the beginning of the recession in 2008. Without it, school officials believe the district would have been forced to cut up to 80 positions in the district.

In 2010, the district had the second lowest tax rate in St. Louis County. The Ladue School District had the lowest rate with 3.1 and Normandy School District had the highest rate with 6.2503.